HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Minutes 2020-11-19 Town of Ithaca Planning Committee
Thursday, November 19,2020(via Zoom Conferencing)
Committee members: Rich DePaolo, Chair; Bill Goodman, Pat Leary
Board/Staff members present: Sue Ritter; Marty Moseley
1. Persons to be heard: None.
2.Committee announcements and concerns: None reported.
3.Consider approval of September meeting minutes.
September minutes: Rich moved; Bill seconded. Approved with several edits and clarifications.
4.Continue discussion of establishing provisions in the Town Code to allow food trucks:
The committee reviewed a draft proposal for food truck legislation prepared by Marty Moseley, dated
11/12/20. Marty indicated that he had utilized some language/ideas from the Town of Red Hook, NY.
The following highlights the discussion/comments/modifications concerning the draft language:
General
-Change, throughout document: "the" in "the Town of Ithaca Code Enforcement Officer" to "a" so that
it implies that any Town COE could be designated to implement and enforce the provisions.
79-3 Permit Required
- D. (1)b. b. "A food truck permit is required to be obtained, by the food truck operator, each sperate
occurrence a food truck returns to a site/tax parcel." Rich suggested providing an exception from
requiring a site permit for each separate occurrence when there are extenuating circumstances for the
truck to leave the site, such as when the vehicle or its equipment(i.e. refrigeration) requires immediate
repairs/servicing.
- D.(2) "A food truck permit is not required in the event that a food truck operates less than eight(8)
hours per week on a single tax parcel/site." Marty explained that an annual operating permit would still
be required under this provision, but in this case, not the site permit. This exclusion was intended for
fund raising venues. The committee suggested modifying it so that it pertains to total operation in an
aggregate of 8 hours. Remove "on a single tax parcel/site".
79-4 Siting
- D. "Food trucks shall be located a minimum of fifteen (15)feet from a side yard or rear yard property
line, not including private streets, when located within or contiguous to a residential zoning district."
The committee discussed the setback and whether to tailor it to each zone. After discussion, they
decided to stick with a 15-foot setback everywhere, for now, in light of the trucks being temporary and
the ability to change this in the future if problems arise.
- F. "Food trucks must be sited in a location that does not obstruct or interfere with the free flow of
pedestrian or vehicular traffic, does not restrict visibility at any driveway or intersection, and does not
unreasonably interfere with the activities of other businesses..." The committee recommended
clarifying this provision so that it clearly pertains to a physical interference, rather than business
competition. However, following further discussion, the committee also decided to address business
competition by requiring a set distance from another restaurant unless the food truck is
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owned/operated/affiliated with the nearby restaurant. The distance suggested was 100 ft away, but
tentative pending determination of the City of Ithaca's requirement, so that potentially the
municipalities requirements can be standardized.
79-5 Operations
- B. Marty clarified that a "food truck permit" addresses the site-specific location of where the truck
will set up, while the "operating permit" is an annual permit required by NYS necessitating an inspection
by the Building/Codes Dept.
-C. Marty explained that an "A-frame" sign could feasibly comply with the six square foot sign
requirement for food trucks because the connectivity of the two sign faces allows them to be counted as
one sign.
- D. "A food truck operator is responsible for the proper disposal of waste and trash..." The committee
requested that "disposal" be replaced with "processing" so as to allow for the applicable methods of
treating the waste (garbage, recycling, composting, etc.)
- E. "...lighting shall be turned off after hours."The committee discussed whether to impose a specific
requirement related to "after hours", but no decision was made.
79-6 Exceptions
Marty explained that the "Exceptions" section still needed work.
79-7 Violations
—A. (4) Remove word "morals".
79-9 Enforcement and Administration
-A. The committee discussed the order of remedy provision with questions concerning whether each
day constituted a separate violation. They thought this should be made clearer. Marty further
explained that if there is a violation, the violator has 5 days to remedy or face a fine. If not remedied,
the fines could be collected for each day a violation occurs and could go back to the day of the initial
notice of violation. The determination on fines is up to a court to decide.
D. "... or a copy thereof, to be served on any builder, architect, tenant, contractor, subcontractor,
construction superintendent, or their agents ...". This language was pulled from another Ithaca Town
Code enforcement provision, but needs to be modified for food trucks, i.e. change builder/architect/etc.
to "owner/operators".
E. Pluralize "Code Enforcement Officer"to Officers.
The committee will discuss a revised version of the legislation at the next meeting.
5. Swimming Pool Setbacks
The committee briefly re-visited the adequacy of a proposed 15-foot side and rear yard setback for
pools. Marty explained that 15-feet originated from the Low and Medium Density Residential Zones
setbacks for exceptions regarding accessory structures. Marty reminded the committee that currently
pools are considered structures and therefore have had no setback requirements. After some
discussion the committee confirmed the proposed 15 foot setback.
6. Staff Report & Updates:
South Hill Business Campus (SHBC): Sue reported on a request for retail use at the SHBC. Currently retail
is not allowed unless it is an incidental by-product of a permitted use or is related in some way to an
arts/crafts/studio use. She asked if the committee would be open to allowing small-scale retail at SHBC,
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maybe limited by the retail space size. Currently the artists/craft spaces are around 300-500 ft' in size.
The committee expressed openness to the idea given that SHBC has large parking areas and is on a State
road, but they would want to think about the proposal more thoroughly and to avoid any unintended
consequences. They suggested that staff propose language for the committee to consider at a future
meeting.
Chamber of Commerce: Sue provided an update on the sale of the Chamber of Commerce property. She
reported on a conversation with a potential buyer interested in a restaurant use. She visited the site
with the interested party to look at the parking, access, etc. The committee expressed interest in the
restaurant use, assuming the logistics worked out.
Next meeting: Tentatively:Thursday, December 17th.
Topics: Food trucks; consider additional permitted use at South Hill Business Campus.
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